As you grow older, maturity naturally comes to you. And it shows on your face. It's true not only about looks, but your maturity should also reflect in your performances. --Urmila Matondkar
It occurred to me today that a lot of my recent stash acquisitions have been of a different flavour. I think when I first begin to learn a new craft my excited brain wants to BUY ALL THE THINGS, no matter what the type or colour, and usually without any actual planed projects attached to them. This means that I end up with a bunch of materials that take up space in my home without any actual future apart from gathering dust and making me feel guilty for buying them.
Par example:
I have always had great ambitions to sew. Over the years, I have collected fabric from all sorts of places that I planned to use for my future life as a seamstress. The thing is: a lot of it is remnants that I got cheap at fabric stores or thrift shops, mostly half a metre or less in length, and most of it not particularly useful on their own. It all lives in a trunk in my living room that I crack open every so often to dig through, sigh, and then close up again.
Since I bought Rosie the sewing machine, my mind has been drifting more often into the sewing realm. I have a couple of projects in the queue for me to work on over the next couple of weeks, but I realized that my little cutting board was not going to work for me as they are quite large projects that require long, straight cuts. I decided to pay a visit to my local Fabricland yesterday as they were having a sale and I also had a coupon and figured it would be more efficient for me to go and buy it in person and to support a local business than for me to pay homage to el Amazon.
Note the following:
- There was a sale.
- I had a coupon.
On my way there, I mused about my upcoming project and started to doubt if the fabric I had in my stash was going to fit the purpose. I decided it might be a good idea to have a wander around and see if there was anything more suitable on sale for a reasonable price.
Friends: I wandered and mused and picked up various bolts of fabric and mused some more. And then I walked past a trolley piled with bolts of fabric that looked like they were going back out on the racks. I pulled out something that looked promising. It turned out to be a bolt of French terry knit fabric marked at $5.85 a metre.
YOU GUYS: That stuff is normally $35 a metre.
I put it on a nearby cutting table and rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't hallucinating. One of the staff came over to see if I was ready for my cuts, and she couldn't believe her eyes either. She actually went to double-check and came back to confirm that it was indeed the correct price.
PEOPLE: I have a membership card that gives me 20% off regular priced items. AND I had a coupon for 15% off my entire order.
And that is how I ended up with 13 metres of fabric, a new cutting board, and a small box of pins:
What I am most pleased about with this purchase is that the French terry knit (all nine metres of it) will work with a few other half and quarter measures of fabric that has been living in the stash for a while with no purchase. I'm learning it's a good idea to purchase solid "staples" that will turn all the fancier, more patterned fabric in my stash into actual garments.
It's like bread and flour and pasta and rice. They change the other tasty ingredients from stuff in the freezer into a satisfying meal.
Of course, the arrow fabric isn't exactly a staple, but it was also on sale for a really good price. And I have some corresponding French terry knit to go with it... except I haven't quite figured out what it's going to be. I know... it kind of defeated the purpose, but it's a better situation than I normally find myself in:
My yarn purchases recently are echoing this intent to make use of the variegated skeins of yarn which have been well-wedged in the stash for some time. These are two skeins of my own hand-dyed yarn from a dye session from a few years ago. They're sister skeins, in that they were dyed at the same time. I love the shades of teal and ice blue-green and tinges of grey throughout:
I've been making it a habit to pick up inexpensive skeins of yarn in silver or charcoal grey to go with the variegated skeins in my stash. I have a project in mind for these, and I originally thought that the silver grey might go well with them, except I'm a little worried that the paler tones may be lost in the mix:
I'm thinking that the charcoal grey might work better:
And to complicate matters: I have a "cousin" skein from the same dye pot that was dyed after these two were done. It's got a much different look, but might be an interesting mix. I'm thinking that the only thing I can do now is wind all this yarn and try it out and see how it goes:
And in case you're wondering: no, I don't buy white yarn to mix with my variegated skeins. I had a discussion with another fibre friend and we both decided that white has a tendency to "deaden" colours a bit too much. Grey seems to be a much gentler choice for this purpose... so much so that I've got an order of 12 skeins of charcoal and silver on the way for future projects.
Using up stash by buying more yarn? Yeah, it's a thing. I think it's working because it's helping me to work through skeins that have languished for several years in my home. It's time they became something useful and satisfying.
Meanwhile, my Calla doily is off the hook and outside blocking in the autumn sunshine. It has turned out to be a much better size than I imagined, about ten inches in diameter. I'm loving all of the fine texture of this doily, and I think it is going to look great stitched onto the back of a dark denim jacket I have hanging in the closet. I think this project takes the idea the other way around: the dark denim jacket is a staple, and the yarn is giving it a bit of oomph and joy:
Speaking of staples, it's time for me to start cooking some potatoes to go with the Italian sausages in the freezer. Thanks for taking the time to read my musings. Have a great week!
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